We love this time of year, when the graduation addresses start hitting YouTube. This year’s included some wonders — and TED-Ed is busy turning them into flipped lessons! Check out these three: Neil Gaiman at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Speaking at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, writer Neil Gaiman tells the graduating […]

The debate over foreign aid often pits those who mistrust “charity” against those who mistrust reliance on the markets. Jacqueline Novogratz proposes a middle way she calls patient capital, with promising examples of entrepreneurial innovation driving social change. (Recorded at TED@State, June 2009, at the US State Department, Washington, DC. Duration: 17:05) Twitter URL: http://on.ted.com/3O[…]

We’re beginning the second week of the TED media team’s annual break and our highlights from the archives with a thought-provoking talk from 2005. In her first talk at TED, Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen Fund urges us to get better at answering the tough questions of the world and says that aid, […]

Jacqueline Novogratz founded and leads Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that takes a businesslike approach to improving the lives of the poor, by investing in entrepreneurs who bring necessary goods and services — water, bread, healthcare — to communities that need it, and who would otherwise depend on traditional charity. In her new book, The Blue […]

TED is in Washington, DC, today, helping to throw a first-of-its-kind conference: TED@State, bringing great ideas from TEDTalks to Washington. This afternoon at the State Department, five TEDTalks stars — Clay Shirky, Paul Collier, Jacqueline Novogratz, Stewart Brand, and Hans Rosling — will share insight and new ideas; music will come from the legendary Zap […]

Watch Charlie Rose talk with Jacqueline Novogratz on his PBS show — discussing Novogratz’ new book, The Blue Sweater, and fresh approaches to tackling the problem of poverty and bridging the gap between rich and poor.

Jacqueline Novogratz tells a moving story of an encounter in a Nairobi slum with Jane, a former prostitute, whose dreams of escaping poverty, of becoming a doctor and of getting married were fulfilled in an unexpected way. (Recorded at TED U 2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 07:30.) Watch Jacqueline Novogratz’s talk from […]

To celebrate March 8, International Women’s Day, we suggest these four TEDTalks gems from some amazing speakers — artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women. Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism — and the power of passionate thinkers and doers: The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi […]

As Jacqueline Novogratz says in her 2005 TEDTalk: “You can’t talk about poverty today without talking about malaria bednets.” Yesterday, the Guardian UK reported on a massive new study of malaria prevention — which found several alarming gaps in the global drive to wipe out this disease, especially in the poorest countries. Read the study’s […]

TEDGLOBAL2005 speaker and GrameenPhone founder Iqbal Quadir is launching a new center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT, thanks to a $50 million structured gift from Legatum, a Dubai-based investment firm. The Legatum Center “will help MIT students start enterprises in developing countries, to foster organic and durable economic growth and more equitable societies”, Iqbal […]

TEDsters have already heard this story — from speakers Iqbal Quadir, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ashraf Ghani, Jacqueline Novogratz, and several others at last June’s TEDGLOBAL in Tanzania: developing countries need investments more than aid. One of the world’s biggest charities has now acted upon this idea. CARE, writes the New York Times, is turning down some […]

Jacqueline Novogratz is pioneering new ways of tackling poverty. In her view, traditional charity rarely delivers lasting results. And commercial investors are also unwilling to seed the businesses and jobs that are needed in tough conditions. Her solution, outlined through a series of revealing personal stories, is “patient capital.” This means using philanthropic funds to […]

“Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth” — Acumen Fund CEO/Founder Jacqueline Novogratz “What we call governments are vampire states, which suck the economic vitality out of the people.” — Economist George Ayittey “I want to make Africans rich. If you make Africans rich, they’ll be less poor. That’s my development strategy.” […]

As the TED Conference team departs for Tanzania and TEDGlobal 2007, the TED.com team is beginning the conversation online, with our latest theme: Africa: The Next Chapter. We start with an observation: That while we’re all familiar with Africa’s challenges — famine and disease, conflict and corruption — it’s less known that across the continent, […]